The Comfort Book

Part 4 begins with a quote by Rebecca Elson: “Sometimes as an antidote / To fear of death, / I eat the stars” (175).

“The sky” invites readers to imagine if the night sky only existed once in a lifetime. If the night sky were that rare, Haig thinks everyone would make sure to gaze at it and wonder. Instead, people take the sky for granted; although it is not practical to gaze at it in wonder every night, Haig urges readers to remember “how wonderful so much of life would instantly seem if it were if it was made rare” (178).

In “Watch the stars,” Haig suggests that seeing the night sky while in despair brings hope that one day one could appreciate it again.

“The universe is change” states that when Marcus Aurelius wrote Meditations, he was among the most powerful men in the world but that he nevertheless resisted taking comfort in his status. Instead, he favored “simplicity, consultation, and a cosmic perspective” (180). He emphasized the importance of watching the stars and spoke about Pythagoras, the early Greek philosopher and founder of Pythagoreanism, which regarded sky-gazing as a window into the divine. Haig reminds readers, “The sky doesn’t start above us.